"I think that I was really concerned about people being alarmed
when they think it’s the next ‘Everyone Loves Raymond,’ and it’s
'trau-medy,'" Notaro, combining trauma and comedy to explain
her show, told Business Insider during the recent summer
Television Critics Association press tour.

Certainly dark, "One Mississippi" straddles the line between
comedy and drama. Though a half-hour show is typically considered
a comedy in television, "One Mississipi" is a
semi-autobiographical portrayal of Notaro's life struggles.

"My mother died. I had cancer. I had an intestinal disease
and couldn’t eat, and I went through a breakup," the openly
lesbian comedian explained during the show's TCA session.
"And I also had pneumonia. The list goes on. It was over a
four-month period of time, and so the pilot captures all of that,
but overlapping rather than spreading it out over the four months
that it all happened."

The show picks up as Notaro arrives in Mississippi to see
her mother, who's in a coma and pronounced brain-dead. It also
explores Notaro's complicated relationships with her family.

"It’s been fun to watch the show, but it is so heavy, and people
cry a lot of times watching it," Notaro told us. "I think my
biggest fear was that people were going to tune in ready to just
‘LOL,’ and it takes these crazy intense turns, where people are
like, ‘I was crying in the first five minutes.’"

Meanwhile, the definitions of comedy and drama have been plaguing
the entertainment industry for years. This is most
evident during the awards seasons.

Last year, Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black" was denied entry into the comedy
category by the Emmys and had to enter the much
more competitive drama category. Meanwhile, Showtime was able to
successfully enter one-hour show "Shameless" into the comedy
category against more likely half-hour comedies.

It isn't just an issue for TV. Earlier this year, there was some
controversy over Matt Damon's film "The Martian," about a man's
death-defying experience surviving alone on Mars, being admitted into the comedy category by
the Golden Globes.

Possibly in a move to sidestep the debate, Amazon Studios
stopped referring to its original programs as comedies or dramas.
Instead, it refers to them according to length.

"There are a lot of stories that are insightful and great
and naturally a half-hour, and others are insightful and great
and naturally an hour," Amazon Studios head Roy Price explained
during TCA. "And we decided to pull back, let’s just stick to the
length, and those are facts, and we organized it that
way."

As for Notaro, she's been able to overcome her early fears.
First, she believes that her fans already understand her brand of
humor. And as for everyone else, Notaro gained some insight from
attending screenings of the show.

"People have really taken to [the show] so easily and
are moved," Notaro said. "I’ve sat in the back of screenings and
listened to a packed room laugh hysterically and then during the
devastating moments, you can feel everybody taking them in. I
have so much confidence that I now don’t care. It’s like prep ‘em
or don’t. I really don’t care."